Founded in 1837, Colby-Sawyer is a comprehensive baccalaureate college that integrates the liberal arts and sciences with professional preparation. The college is located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire.

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Alumnus Nate Corddry Stars in NBC's 'Harry's Law'

Nate Corddry '00, a Communication Studies major who has gone on to a successful career as an actor in television, film and theater, is now co-starring in a new legal drama series called Harry's Law, which premiered Monday, Jan. 17, on NBC. The show airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. EST and features Corddry as hotshot corporate lawyer Adam Branch, with Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates (Misery, About Schmidt) as the title character, Harriet Harry Korn, a patent attorney who is bored with her job and is abruptly fired and forced to find a new career.

Corddry, as Adam Branch, is a great admirer of Harry's prowess as an attorney, and he takes a leave from his corporate law firm to help her get started in her new law office/shoe store, which she has set up in a storefront in a bad section of Cincinnati. The show is written and produced by David E. Kelley (Boston Legal, The Practice, and Ally McBeal), an Emmy Award-winning television producer.

His role in Harry's Law marks another major leap in Corddry's acting career, which has taken him from the stage at Colby-Sawyer College to bigger stages around the country, and from advertising gigs and comedic and dramatic roles on the small screen to a growing number of appearances in feature films. His interest in acting began as a high school student in Weymouth, Mass., where he performed in school productions. When he began his college search, he was looking for a broad liberal arts education rather than one narrowly focused on the performing arts. He became a Communication Studies major at Colby-Sawyer, and appeared in every college theater productions that was staged while he was here. He found a friend and mentor in former Associate Professor of Performing Arts Jerry Bliss, whom he credits for teaching him most of what he knows about the craft of acting.

In a 2006 interview with the Colby-Sawyer Alumni Magazine, Corddry said that one of the first things casting directors ask is where you trained as an actor. The fact that I went to Colby-Sawyer, which doesn't offer a theater degree, is a novelty, Corddry said. But it really benefited me because at Colby-Sawyer I learned by doing. I performed in a lot of great roles, as well as produced and directed productions and started an improv group. Other kids have Yale theater degrees, but I have more experience because I had so many more opportunities.

Corddry also spent four summers during and after college at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, a training ground for talented actors, and soon went to New York City to seek roles in theater and television. He eventually landed a correspondent role on "The Daily Show with John Stewart," alongside his brother, Rob, before being cast in a much anticipated television drama, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, created and produced by Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, The Social Network), which took him to California, where he still lives.

When the show was cancelled, Corddry went on to appear in films such as The Invention of Lying with Ricky Gervais and The Ugly Truth with Katie Heigl and Gerard Butler. He also played a lead role in the Warner Bros. feature Yogi Bear and as the voice of a lead character in the animated Tron series. This winter he will appear in a lead role opposite Julianne Moore in the feature film Shelter.

Most recently, Corddry has appeared as the series lead in Larry Charles' "Our Show" for NBC, in the HBO's miniseries The Pacific, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and in a starring role opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar in the HBO pilot "The Wonderful Malady's." He also had a major role in a 10-episode arc on the Spielberg-produced Showtime drama The United States of Tara and a guest cameo on the Emmy Award-winning NBC series 30 Rock.

Back in 2006, Professor Bliss expressed his belief in Nathan Corddry's talent and his devotion and drive. He was so exciting to work with as an actor. He knows what he wants, and he's absolutely driven, he said. There's nothing Nathan can't do as an actor. He's completely honest and willing to take risks. He's going to do very well.